Soldiers fighting in Gaza
WAR
Gaza
Israel’s Army Spokesman’s office said that 175 Israeli soldiers have died since the IDF went into Gaza on October 27, 2023. 519 soldiers and police have been killed since the Hamas invasion of Israel on Oct 7th, that resulted in over 1200 Israelis massacred and 242 kidnapped. 133 still remain prisoners in Gaza.
Channel 12TV interviewed one woman who admitted to have been repeatedly raped while in captivity. Other reports from those 122 who were released in a prisoner exchange, and reports from survivors of the massacre, say that they had witnessed women raped. Witnesses also report seeing burned corpses of women, pants down or skirts up, found among the ruins of homes in the Gaza kibbutzim and settlements.
Stage three of the war in Gaza has begun, according to Ynetnews. "This stage will take six months. Some of the soldiers will be kept in case of an escalation against Hezbollah in the north on the Lebanese border.”
According to the report, the IDF will withdraw 5 brigades from the Strip, Palestinians have reported seeing tanks withdrawing from several areas of Gaza City.
Reuters said, that an Israeli official confirms there is a transition to a more focused phase, which he says will still be intense: "No one is talking about the flight of The Dove Of Peace over Shejaia (refugee camp).” The source stated that some of the fighters who will leave the Strip will be prepared for a scenario of escalation in the north: "The situation there cannot continue, the next six months will be a critical period"
Each Brigades consist of between 2,000 - 8,000 troops. and consists of infantry, armor, artillery and reconnaissance units.
Israeli soldiers on a hilltop overlooking Gaza City
Reportedly, the US has been pressuring Israel to scale down the fighting in Gaza and focus more on specific areas in the Gaza strip. The US is concerned about civilian casualties in the densely populated areas of Gaza, especially for those who fled to the south to escape the fighting in the north.
According to Amos Yadlin, former head of Ministry Intelligence, speaking on Channel 12TV, We are now in the third phase.” Yadlin said that the USA wants Israel to withdraw and only strike at specific points. The IDF has a different view. “And as to the rebuilding of Gaza,” Yadlin said, “Israel will not rebuild Gaza before we rebuild Kibbutz Beeri, and other communities destroyed by Hamas.” Yadlin thought that the release of the five IDF Brigades from Gaza “was a good thing.”
Controversy arose after Minister of Intelligence Gila Gamliel, of the Likud Party, said that she has been in talks with the Congo and other African nations for the resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza. Gamliel insists that only resettlement outside of Gaza will stop Hamas from eventually again firing rockets into Israel.
This follows statements by ultra-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotritch that Gazans should be relocated outside of Gaza.
However Matthew Miller, a US state department spokesman said, “This rhetoric is inflammatory and irresponsible.”
According to the Times of Israel, a senior Israel official denies a report that Israel is in talks with the Congo. “It could be talks between Congo and Gazans, but Israel is not conducting any talks with any country on this issue…We are not in a position where we can bring people from here to Congo.”
The Israeli official said, apparently in reference to Ben Gvir and Smotritch, that “There are those in Israel who think that there is a willingness on the part of Gazans to emigrate voluntarily…it is a baseless illusion in my opinion. No country will absorb 2 million people, or 1 million, or 100,000, or 5,000. I don’t know where that idea came from.”
North
Israel has been accused by Hamas of the assassination in Beirut of Saleh Arouri, the most senior Hamas member to have been killed so far in the war. Arouri was second in command to Hamas politburo leader Ismail Haniyeh who is based in Doha, Qatar. Hamas had dubbed Arouri"The Architect of October 7,” ( the invasion of Israel’s Gaza settlements).
Destroyed apartment of Hamas top official Saleh Arouri in Beirut
Yeheh Sinwar, Hamas leader in Gaza, was reportedly on unfriendly terms with Arouri. Both men saw themselves as successors to Haniyeh as head of Hamas. Arouri has been an Israeli target for years. He was viewed by Israeli security officials as Hamas’ mastermind of West Bank terrorism.
According to Ynetnews, one of the operations orchestrated by al-Arouri was the kidnapping and murder of three teenagers, Gil-Ad Michael Shaer, Yaakov Naftali Frenkel and Eyal Yifrach, in the summer of 2014, which led to the launch of Operation Protective Edge in Gaza.
Channel 11TV reported that Arouri was meeting with four other Hamas operatives in an apartment in a crowded upscale neighborhood of Beirut. Reportedly, the IDF launched a pin-point drone strike at the building, hitting only the apartment where the meeting was taking place, leaving the remainder of the building and those around it intact.
According to Ynetnews, the Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar reported Thursday morning that Arouri received a warning from Hezbollah that Israel was tracking him.
According to Zohar Palti, former head of the Mossad, speaking to a panel on Channel 12TV, Asouri was responsible for the worst terrorist attacks in the West Bank.” He added, “We can expect the worst from Hezbollah after the attacks. “
According to the Times of Israel, Hamas spokesman said, ““We affirm that this crime will never pass without response and punishment,”
The IDF spokesman’s office said that Israeli fighters were at heightened readiness to retaliate should Hezbollah decide to strike. The spokesman said that Israel is already on the highest level of war footing in the north having prepared for a possible invasion by the Hezbollah terrorist group attacking Israel’s north as a follow-up to the Hamas invasion of Israel’s south on Oct 7th.
Mark Regev, Prime minister Netanyahu’s foreign media spokesman said, “Whoever did this, it’s not an attack on the Lebanese state. It’s not an attack on the Hezbollah terrorist organization. Whoever did this, it;’s an attack on Hamas, that’s very clear.”
According to analysts, Hezbollah will not join in the Hamas retaliation of the Asouri assassination since Hezbollah’s leader Shiek Nasrallah does not want to go to war with Israel.
Also, the analysts point out that Hamas is a Sunni branch of Islam that has been at war off and on with the Shiite branch of which Hezbollah is a member. Hezbollah is a puppet of the Iranian Shiite government.
According to Ynetnews, Mossad chief David Barnea, speaking at the funeral of former Mossad head Zvi Zamir, the day after the assassination of Asouri, “Let every Arab mother know that if her son took part in the (Oct 7th) massacre, he signed his own death warrant.”
Barnea likened Israel’s hunt for Hamas leaders as that similar to the decades long mission to eliminate the terrorists who carried out the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre where 11 Israeli athletes were killed.
Political and military observers are wary of what Hamas and Hezbollah will do in response to the assassination of Asouri. “We’re waiting for the other shoe to drop,” said one observer.
According to Reuters, on Wednesday night Hezbollah leader Nasrallah said in a long television speech in Beirut that Israel's killing of the deputy chief of allied Palestinian faction Hamas in Beirut was "a major, dangerous crime about which we cannot be silent."
Nasrallah said Hezbollah's cross-border shelling of Israel starting on Oct. 8 had prevented a broader bombing campaign by Israel, warning Israel that there would be "no ceilings" and "no rules" to his group's fighting if Israel chose to launch a war on Lebanon.
However, former Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Sinora said that Hezbollah should not drag Lebanon into another war.
In Iran, two bombs exploded on Wednesday at the grave of Islamic Republican Guard corps General Soleimani. Ynet reports that 73 people were killed in the bombings and 170 wounded. Soleimani had been in charge of the Iranian militia stationed in Syria that was the architect of multiple terrorist attacks against Israel.
The White House has said it found no evidence of Israel’s involvement. Israeli scholars have told the media that a bombing like this would not be in Israel’s interests. Some observers speculate that ISIS may be behind the bombing. Others say that perhaps anti-government forces in Iran may be behind the blasts. No one has claimed responsibility.
Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets at Israel on a near daily basis. Residents of Israel’s north have mostly been evacuated due to the incessant rocket fire. Four Israeli civilians and nine IDF soldiers have been killed in the exchanges in the north since Oct 8th.
On Monday, Israeli air force planes bombed a Hezbollah position inside Lebanon reportedly as a pre-emptive measure. Hezbollah has said they’ve lost 138 members so far in the rocket exchanges. The Israeli Army Spokesman said on Monday that Israel had eliminated three terrorists squads in Lebanon that were firing on Israel’s north, according to Channel 12TV
Rockets
Hamas Video of M90 rockets
On New Year’s Eve, at 12:04 in Israel, sirens sounded from the Gaza border to Tel Aviv. A barrage of at least 27 rockets were fired just as celebrations took place for those who celebrate. Revelers in Tel Aviv pubs took to bomb shelters, scurrying down the streets some with drinks still in their hands.
Nine rockets fell in open areas. Israel’s air defenses intercepted 19 rockets. According to the Times of Israel Izza al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hams, claimed responsibility. The group reportedly fired M80 rockets “in response to the massacre of civilians. Some shrapnel reportedly fell in the cities of Rishon LeZion and the News Ziona but caused no injuries.
According to Ohad Hemo, Arab affairs reporter on Channel 12TV, Hamas can still fire rockets, even from the Jabaliya refugee camp in north Gaza. He also said that Hamas’ still has the ability to govern Gaza. Hemo said that the Health, Interior and other ministries are still functioning.
He said that the dominant Bedouin families are using a protection racket regarding the humanitarian aid. Hemo said that these criminal families will protect the aid shipments if they get a percentage of the shipment.
Likud MK Nir Barakat has said that it was ridiculous for Israel to allow shipments of fuel into Gaza. What country allows their enemy to get fuel for their vehicles?
Tunnel in Southern Lebanon
There have also been complaints from those few residents remaining in the north of noises they believe to be are made by Hezbollah digging tunnels along Israel’s northern border.
A report on Tuesday in the Times of Israel stated that Hezbollah has built a vast tunnel network in southern Lebanon that is far more sophisticated that the tunnel network Hamas built in Gaza.
According to Tal Beeri, the director of Alma’s Research Department, which focuses on the security challenges on Israel’s northern border, Hezbollah has tunnels cut into mountains throughout Lebanon that stretch for a cumulative hundreds of kilometers. Some of the tunnels reach under the Lebanese border into Israel.
According to Beeri, some of the tunnels are wide enough and tall enough to allow trucks to easily drive from place to place. Some trucks can carry long range missiles, emerge from the tunnel opening to rapidly fire their payload, and then duck back into the tunnel, all hidden from satellite view by the mountains.
Illustration of Hezbollah tunnels in Lebanon
Beeri says the southern Lebanon is a “Land of Tunnels.” He maps out 36 geographic regions, towns and villages in a 2021 paper. He says these 36 “polygons” serve as attack points where Hezbollah terrorists can emerge, fire and then disappear back into the tunnels.
He wrote that there are several kinds of tunnels in Lebanon. Large, long attack tunnels that allow vehicles and even medium-sized trucks to pass through from location to location. Tactical tunnels, that are lower and narrower, close to villages, enabling terrorists to fire from tunnel shafts, as Hamas does in Gaza, and then drop back down into the tunnel. And explosive tunnels, essentially booby-traps set up to lure IDF soldiers in and then kill them.
What Beeri discovered, most of his research is in verified open-source documents, is that the expertise for building the tunnels was provided by North Korea, beginning as far back as the 1980’s.
Later, the report stated, Iran joined in with support for building tunnels. All the construction was done by shadow companies ostensibly formed to provide housing and infrastructure for the Shiite population.
Observers point out the hypocrisy of the UN that on the one hand condemn Israel’s action in Gaza, and on the other hand refuses to enforce UN resolution 1701 that calls for a demilitarized zone from the Lebanese border with Israel for 30 kilometers to the Litani River.
In the south
Rockets over Israel intercepted by Iron Dome defense
Israel’s southern towns have also been subject to near daily siren warnings and missile attacks. Most of the missiles are destroyed by Iron Dome defenses, some strike open fields and a few manage to hit a building or a car. No injuries have been reported.
Most of the residents along both the southern and northern borders have been evacuated and relocated to hotels. However the Army has stated that those residents whose homes and communities are beyond the 7km mark from the border can return to their homes.
According to reports on Channel 13TV many of the evacuees are fed up with staying in the hotels, even if the hotels are five star. However, few are ready to move back even if the army allows it.
Alon Davidi, mayor of the southern town of Sderot, told Channel 12TV, “What protection is the government offering to the citizens who return to cities and villages?”
The IDF has said that they have supplied each community with weapons for self defense, and set up self-defense units. On Oct 7th those self-defense units found themselves without enough weapons, or men, to fend off the massive Hamas attack that saw 3,000 terrorists flood into the Israeli settlements.
As of now, evacuees receive 100 shekels per day per adult and 100 shekels per day per child. Interviews with evacuees reveal that little of that money has been paid out.
Also, IDF soldiers who own their own businesses complain that their reserve duty, some serving since Oct 7th, has caused them to close up their businesses. The government has promised recompense for their service and their losses but one store owner said he has still not seen the money due him from the Covid epidemic losses.
The IDF spokesman’s office said this week that it could take up to two years to eliminate the threat of rockets from Gaza.
Hostages
Posters of hostages outside an Israeli shopping mall
133 hostages are still held somewhere in Gaza. Their families are still protesting in downtown Tel Aviv, and meeting with politicians and officials whenever they can to try to get negotiations restarted. Relatives say that every day that passes puts these hostages’ lives at risk.
Representatives of Egypt, Qatar, Hamas, and Israel have reportedly been meeting in Cairo to try to arrange a new ceasefire. However, no progress has been reported.
According to Channel 12TV’s Arab affairs expert, Ehud Yaari, Hamas Gaza leader Sinwar wants a three week ceasefire. He is pushing Egypt to fold Hamas into the PA.(Palestinian Authority) Meanwhile the PA has announced it will pay 2000 shekels per family for every terrorist killed or captured. A statement that does little to encourage Israeli trust.
West Bank
Also, according to the Times of Israel, residents of the West Bank town of Kochav Yair and nearby Tzur Yigal have said they have also heard the sounds of digging and are worried about tunnels coming into their settlements. from the nearby Arab town of Qalqilya, just 300 meters from the southern tip of the community. However, the IDF says that so far they have not discovered any evidence of tunnels.
Residents of the village of Bat Hefer have also complained about the sound of digging from the Palestinian village of Shuweka. “After what we learned on Oct 7th, it’s clear that Israel needs to make a change and treat the communities in this area differently,” said Yuval Arad, mayor of Kochav Yair.
The Army spokesman’s office also said that since Oct 7th, the IDF has arrested over 2500 suspected terrorists in the West Bank, among them 1800 affiliated with Hamas.
On Dec 29, four Israelis were wounded, one moderately, two lightly, in a suspected car ramming near the West Bank Jewish settlement of Otniel. The terrorists was reportedly eliminated on the scene.
On Dec 30th, an Israeli was injured in another car ramming at a military checkpoint near Hebron. And on Dec 31st, two Israeli guards were stabbed at the Mishor Adumim industrial park. The terrorist was “neutralized.”
Red Sea
Iranian-backed Houthi rebels continue to send missiles and weaponized drones at Israel. Most were shot down by US naval ships stationed in the Red Sea near Yemen. An international force of naval vessels has been organized to protect freedom of shipping in the Red Sea.
On Dec 31st, the US Navy in the Red Sea sunk three Houthi attack boats as gunmen tried to board a container ship. This was the 23rd Houthi attack on vessels in the Red Sea since October 19th.
However, the USS Ford, currently stationed in the Red Sea, and the support attack group of ships, is to be repositioned and leave their station in the Red Sea. Some observers see this as a weakening of US support for Israel.
But, according to Reuters, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Wednesday that the U.S will continue to maintain a significant military force presence in the Middle East amid the ongoing clash between Israel and Hamas,
But, major shipping companies like the giant Maersk have announced they will avoid the Red Sea route because of the danger to their ships. According to ABC-TV, 12% of global trade passes through the Red Sea.
Iranian frigate Alborz entering Red Sea
Also, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported Monday that the Iranian warship Alborz crossed the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and entered the busy waterway, where a U.S.-led coalition is already stationed.
According to Iranian officials, the 51-year-old vessel, originally sold to the shah of Iran by Britain, will supervise naval missions in the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Neftali Bennett said that while in office he struck at Iranian targets twice. He urged Israel and the allies to attack Iran.
Some pundits agree, saying that Iran is the hub of the terrorist wheel.
Anti-Semitism
Harvard University president Claudine Gay has resigned from her post. She had been accused of plagiarism in papers she’d written. Recently, she’d made statements before a congressional committee which failed to answer whether students calling for genocide violated their institutional codes of conduct.
When asked for a reply to that question by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), the Harvard president answered: “We embrace a commitment to free expression even of views that are objectionable, offensive, hateful—it’s when that speech crosses into conduct that violates our policies against bullying, harassment, intimidation.”
The controversial question referred to pro-Palestinian rallies on campus calling for the genocide of Jews—and more pointedly, Israelis—since the war with Hamas began after the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks.she refused to admit that Hamas attack on the Israeli settlements on Oct 7th was Jewish Genocide.
According to Ynetnews, Dr. Amira Halperin, an Israeli lecturer at Coventry University in England, says students supporting Hamas make threats but the university’s administration fails to act. She wonders why the Israeli government is not reacting to these threats.
Dr. Halperin, an expert in communications, refugees and terrorism, believes the the current wave of protests “starts with the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement,”
BDS, according to their website, “works to end international support for Israel's oppression of Palestinians and pressure Israel to comply.” BDS is a non-for-profit organization began by two Palestinians, Omar Barghouti, Ramy Shaa. Few anti-Israeli protesters are aware that BDS was of Palestinian origin.
“BDS has existed for a long time on campus”, said Dr. Halperin.”
She bemoaned being isolated. “We are alone. We have no help. Not even from the university. No separation between what the students believe and the lecturers and professors. Everyone seems to be against us. There is no one to talk to, no one to complaint to.…I’m worried that some student will come tomorrow morning with a weapon and, I don’t know what could happen next. “
Dr. Halperin said, “A senior member of the staff entered my class and started shouting against the occupation. Maybe students then feel it is legitimate to act in the same way….Running away is not a solution.” She said she needed the job. “I have children to support.”
According to Tablet Magazine,in an article entitled The Vanishing Jews, “Using YouGov data, author Eric Kaufmann finds that just 4% of elite American academics under 30 are Jewish (compared to 21% of baby-boomers). Jewish editors at the Harvard Law Review dropped from roughly 50% in less than 10 years.
Starting in the 1990’s, this slow-moving downward trend is found all across America’s elite institutions, according to the article.
Many organizations use the term “diversity” to explain the growing absence of Jewish representation.
According to Tablet museum boards now diversify by getting Jews to resign. A well-respected Jewish curator at the Guggenheim was “purged” after she put on a Basquiat show.
“At the Art Institute of Chicago, even the nice Jewish lady volunteers were dismissed for having the wrong ethnic background.” According to the Table article, there is now a plethora of summer programs, fellowships and postdocs that are now off-limits to Jews.
In 2014 there were 16-20 Jewish artists featured at the Whitney Biennial. After a very public campaign against a Jewish board member with ties to the Israeli defense establishment, the museum’s 2022 biennial featured only one or two Jews.
In the Guggenheim Fellowship program, according to Tablet, in 2012 there were between 30-40 fellows, but in 2022 only between 14-16. The University of Pennsylvania’s Jewish population dropped from 26% in 2015 to 17% in 2021. New York University’s Jewish population declined from 24% to 13%.
Harvard, according to the article, has gone from being 25% Jewish in the 1990s to under 10% today. The article continues to list how Jewish representation has dropped in everything from congress to the LA city council. And even to the number of Jewish show runners on tv programs has declined.
The article concludes with “If Putin or Orban reduced their universities’ Jewish populations by 50%, the ADL would be howling. But Harvard and Yale can magically lose nearly half their Jewish students in less than a decade and we’ll take it on the chin. That this is occurring with the full acquiescence of a terrified liberal Jewish establishment should tell you just how much power Jews in America still have.”
Judicial Reform
Israel’s High Court in session
On Sunday, in a landmark case, Israel’s High Court for the first time nullified a “basic law,’ part of Israel’s quasi constitution. The “Reasonableness Law” that had been passed in the Knesset gave the government and the prime minister power over the courts. This was a key law in the Judicial Reforms that had been pushed by Prime Minister Netanyahu, Minister of Justice Yariv Levin, and MK Simcha Rothman, head of the knesset Judicial Committee.
Justice Levin objected to the decision and told the media that the High Court takes too much power, far more than any other democracy in the world.
Avraham Rabinovitz, political commentator on Channel 12TV said that “The minister of Justice (Levin) was a danger to the country who could do much damage.
Channel 12TV Correspondent Dana Weiss said that the ruling proves that the PM cannot put himself above the law. She said that the bill called for a change in the character of Israel.”
The Judicial Reforms push resulted in protests that tore Israel apart for nearly nine-months and, according to observers, was one of the reasons that Hamas decided to attack Israel.
To protest the Judicial reforms reserve soldiers and pilots refused to show up for duty, mostly training and military exercises. Sources say that Netanyahu was repeatedly warned that the Judicial Reforms were weakening the military and that his focus should be more on security than on Judicial Reforms.
The goal of the Judicial Reforms was, according to observers, meant to allow Netanyahu to chose judges and prosecutors what would be willing to dismiss the charges against him, thus freeing him from the possibility of going to prison if convicted. Netanyahu is on trial for three felonies.
The Army Spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, told the press that the Judicial Reforms might have led to Hamas invasion. “Allowing the enemies of Israel to think Israel weak. But now the IDF is a fully functioning military force.”
Likud Knesset members have said that once the war was over they’d return to the battle of Judicial Reforms.
Also, the High Court ruled on Wednesday that Prime Minister Netanyahu should recuse himself from discussions of Judicial Reform since he has a vested interest in their outcome. The court found that the law the Knesset passed was “personal” and as such would not be applied until the next elected knesset gets a chance to vote on it.
Public Opinion
According to AP, South Africa’s has filed a case in the UN’s top court, the ICJ located in the Netherlands, accusing Israel of Genocide. Israel plans to mount an aggressive defense against the claim. Experts expect the case to drag on for years.
Politics
ICJ, also known as the world court, for a series of legally binding rulings. South African wants the court to declare that Israel “has breached and continues to breach its obligations under the Genocide Convention,” and to order Israel to cease hostilities in Gaza that could amount to breaches of the convention, to offer reparations, and to provide for reconstruction of what it’s destroyed in Gaza.
According to the Israel Democracy Institute’s survey, only 15% of the Israeli population believes that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should stay in office after the war.
In a recent poll, former chief-of-staff Gen. Benny Gantz’s United Israel party had 71 seats in the 120 seat Knesset, with only 45 seats for Netanyahu’s coalition. In the poll, Gantz’s party received 38 seats and Netanyahu’s Likud only 16. In a popularity contest Gantz was preferred over Netanyahu by 52% to 31% of those polled.
Some pundits say that polls like that only encourage Netanyahu to prolong the war to keep himself in power. And avoid appearing in court because of his duties as Prime Minister in a time of the war,
Earlier this week, Channel 13TV placed four correspondents in the back seat of Israeli taxi cabs. The correspondents asked who the cab drivers preferred to run the country. Two of the cab drivers said they’d been life-long Likud party members but did not want to see Netanyahu continue in his position. The other two were not interested in seeing Netanyahu stay in power, either.
One conversation that took place recently between two Israelis that concerned Netanyahu. “When he comes on, I turn down the sound,” said one Israeli, who was considered moderate by his friend, a pro-settler and right-wing supporter. “You’re more right wing than I am,” said the man, “I just turn off the TV.”
According to the Israeli census bureau, Israel’s population now stands at 9.842 million people. Jews make up the majority at 73.2% (about 7,208,000 people). Israeli citizens classified as Arabs, some identifying as Palestinians, account for 21.1% (around 2,080,000 people). The remainder are either foreign residents or those without a distinct ethnic or religious categorization.
Health
Sandflies that carry viruses are infecting Israeli troops in Gaza. Also, the growing number of psychological problems are just some of the health issues among soldiers. According to Channel 11TV, 2500 soldiers are suffering from psychological problems, but 75% of them have returned to their units.
According to the American PBS-TV network, roughly 3,000 members of the Israel’s security forces have been wounded since Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 240 people hostage. Nearly 900 of those are soldiers wounded since Israel began its ground offensive in late October, in which troops have engaged in close combat with Hamas militants.
Speaking to Ynetnews, Dr. Marina Klodi, a surgeon at Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv, “We can save lives but not souls.” She said, “Among those that have survived, you can’t say that they are happy (that they survived).”
One pundit pointed out the old adage that “Trouble comes in Threes….First we had Covid. Then we had Judicial Reforms. Now we have the Gaza War. Maybe that’s all there is?”
Education
Israel has allowed the academic year to begin. This even though some 55,000 reserve soldiers are enrolled in different academic programs. The academic institutions have said that they will be flexible in dealing with the reserve soldiers.
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